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By: Internet For The People Committee |
3:06 pm Feb 18, 2020 |
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Entrepreneur
Media
vs.
EntrepreneurPR
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By
Scott Smith
-
EntrepreneurPR
Founder -
Committee
Member
In October 1997, and after hiring a professional naming
company and conducting extensive trademark searches, I
changed the name of my public relations firm for
entrepreneurs, from ICON Publications to EntrepreneurPR. I
created a booklet of promotional profiles of our
entrepreneurial clients and distributed it as source
material for news stories to members of the media.
In May 1998, I was sued by Entrepreneur Media, the publisher
of Entrepreneur Magazine, for using the term
"entrepreneur" in my business, booklet and website
names ("…we demand that you deliver up for
destruction all physical items bearing any form of the
trademark ENTREPRENEUR." Henry M. Bissell, attorney for
Entrepreneur Media). In June 2000, a federal court judge
awarded Entrepreneur Media an injunction prohibiting me from
using the term "entrepreneur" and awarded $337,280
in damages to Entrepreneur Media. Entrepreneur Magazine
is a small-business publication with about 500,000
subscribers that trademarked the word
"entrepreneur" in 1987. And that, according to the
court's decision, means the firm has "exclusive right
to use the mark in commerce."
I appealed, and in February 2002 the case was overturned by
a three judge panel who unanimously ruled that
Entrepreneur Media's trademark was "descriptive and
weak." The case was sent back to the same district
court judge for a full trial. The judge again ruled against
me in June 2003, and awarded Entrepreneur Media a permanent
injunction and a mind-boggling $1.4 million in damages and
attorneys' fees. Apparently you can call yourself an
entrepreneur, but you can no longer include the word in the
name of your business, particularly one in publishing,
because the term "entrepreneur" was trademarked in
1987! ("According to Entrepreneur Media's legal counsel
Mark Finkelstein, Entrepreneur Media even owns
"entrepreneur" in Canada and in several sectors
outside of magazine and website publishing." Profit
Magazine, June 2003)
Isn't there a broad societal interest in preserving common,
useful words for the public domain? As the U.S. Court of
Appeals has already said about this case, "We do not
want to prevent the commercial use of descriptive words …
straightforward names are often the most useful
identifiers." How is it that a corporate bully with
deep pockets can appropriate a common term that they did not
invent, has been in use for years, and has no synonym? How
many more businesses and organizations that provide products
and services for entrepreneurs will now be sued for using
the word "entrepreneur"? Does this make any
rational sense?
This battle has dragged on for over six years and has cost
my small company over $100,000 in legal fees. But we refuse
to give up and are again appealing this lower court's
bizarre ruling. Unfortunately, the wheels of justice turn
very slowly, so we may not receive a ruling from the 9th
Circuit Court of Appeals until early 2005. Additional
information about this subject is available at Entrepreneur.net,
a website of one of the many small businesses Entrepreneur
Magazine has attacked for using the word
"entrepreneur."
Public
awareness of this unacceptable corporate behavior is
crucial to eradicating it and we are asking you to
take a stand and make a difference on this issue. Your
collective voice is more compelling than the lobbying
power of corporate giants and it is a voice that cannot
be ignored.
Together we can
make a difference and help keep our freedom
intact, for us, for our children, and for our
grandchildren.
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